What We Are All About
Mt. Zion United Church of God is under obligation to furnish the best possible public instruction in the Gospel, and to exercise a tender, loving, and patient watch-care over the members. Furthermore, it is under obligation to use the utmost diligence and effort for the members’ enlightenment, sanctification, and usefulness, with the view to present him/her “Perfect in Christ Jesus.”
God brought the Church into existence so it would be a means of bringing glory to His name. The apostle Paul tells us that the overall purpose of God’s redeeming us is that we should be to the praise of His glory (Eph. 1:6, 12, 14). The manner in which the Church glorifies God is three-directional:
Outward -> In Evangelism
Inward -> In Edification of Believers by one another
Upward -> In Worship
- Evangelism
This word literally means “a declaration or preaching of the gospel.” The Greek
word evangelion, from which we get “evangel” means “good news.” “Evangel”
and“ gospel” are synonyms, so that when we speak of sharing the gospel with
others we mean sharing the good news of Jesus Christ and His offer of
salvation.
The field for evangelism is the whole world, as Jesus plainly commanded in
Matthew 28:19, 20, and Mark 16:15. The church is under obligation to share the
gospel with all men everywhere. Jesus stated that His followers were to be
witnesses both near to home (Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria) and in more distant
lands (uttermost parts of the earth), as we see in Acts 1:8.
- Edification
The work of evangelism can be effective only when the body of Christ is healthy.
Individual members of the Church have the responsibility to edify, or build up,
one another. When they gather for worship, one purpose is that they might edify
one another (I Cor. 14:26). Christians are enjoined to teach and admonish one
another by preaching the Word, testifying, and singing (Eph. 5:18, 19; Col. 3:16),
and to attempt to help a sinning brother or sister to see his/her sin so that he/she
might repent of it (Gal. 6:2; James 5:19, 20). There is the further responsibility
of praying for one another, as Paul did for the congregations to which he wrote
(Eph. 1:16-22).
- Worship
The Church is the temple of God, and individual believers are priests who offer
themselves and their praise as sacrifices to God (Rom. 12:1; Heb. 13:15).
Therefore, when God’s people assemble for worship, the primary focus must be
on Him. When they come together to “minister to the Lord”, then the Holy Spirit
will be able to speak to them (Acts 13:2, 3).
Christians must take seriously the words of Scripture not to forsake the
assembling of ourselves together (Heb. 10:25). The worship which the Church
renders to God must be “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23, 24; Phil. 3:3). It is a
time when God’s people, under the direction of the Holy Ghost and in
accordance with God’s Word, seek to glorify Him by means of song, prayer, and
the ministry of the Word. A Spirit-filled congregation also experiences the gifts
of the Spirit in its worship (I Cor. 14), by means of which God is glorified and the
individual members are edified.
Mt. Zion is a:
- Proclaiming church
- Teaching and learning church
- Praying church
- Worshipping church
- Ministering church
- Celebrating church
- Fellowshipping church
- Serving church
- Caring church
- Witnessing church
- Loving church
- “Connecting” church